Grand Pursuit
by The Rekizalb
Summary: A mysterious woman running for her life from Team Rocket in Goldenrod City sets the stage for a tale of intrigue when she pays Ethan and Lyra to escort her to a ship in Olivine City. However, things won't be easy for the group with Proton in constant pursuit. (ProtonxOC)
1. A Woman Called Vile

_**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to **__**Pokémon or any of its trademarks, characters, places, etc.**_

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Goldenrod City at midnight. For a city of its size, it is unusually quiet at that time of night, well-except for the frantic footfalls on one particular night. From the feet of a woman who appeared to barely be twenty with smooth short, dark purple hair that poked forward like curved tusks at both sides. Her dress was odd with knee-high silver boots, a black skirt that barely graced her mid-thighs, long gloves that were the same silver as her boots, a short black jacket that loosely hung over her, a short white scarf, and a loose black cap with a set of red goggles that sat on its front.

Across her shoulder a dark, hefty messenger bag violently swayed as she ran. Her breath came in short bursts the quicker she ran through the darker parts of the city. Although one could not physically see what the woman was running from, it was enough to throw her into a frenzy that sent her into an officer of the night watch.

"Ma'am, are you alright?" the night watch officer asked as he held out a hand for the woman who had tripped and fallen onto the hard stone in front of him.

"Could you…arrest me? My life is in peril, _they are_ after me!" she wheezed as she pushed off of the ground and back to her feet. "They have eyes and ears everywhere; I only will be safe at a Police Station."

This request stunned the officer who had never been asked to arrest someone. Usually it was the opposite, and with a lot of whining and crying. But this woman was speaking in riddles and plainly asking to be brought to a police station. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but if she felt her life was in peril that badly, he supposed that he could assist her.

"Ma'am, tell ya what," he explained, "a fellow officer makes his rounds about a block away from here. I'm going to buzz him and tell him that when he sees you, to arrest you. Is that what you want?"

"Yes," she pleaded, "Yes!" Without even needing a nudge, the woman raced down the block before the night officer could even bring his walkie-talkie to his lips to speak. Below a streetlight only a little ways away from her stood another night officer, twirling his baton around and whistling off key. The woman watched as his walkie-talkie began to go off and he rushed to grab it from his belt.

"There's a woman running down the street right now with purple hair. I don't know what she's on, but she requested someone arrest her," buzzed the walkie-talkie.

The night watch officer noticed the woman racing towards him and quickly got his hand cuffs from the side of his belt ready, as he shouted, "Hands where I can see them!"

Before she knew it, the woman was hand cuffed and being escorted to downtown. The walk to the Police Station, she searched the shadows for something, but whatever it was, it was nowhere to be found to her pleasure. When they finally arrived, she was tossed in an interrogation room with an officer whose shift had just been thrown back by her arrival.

"Ok lady, what do you want?" he spat from the other side of the table.

The woman straightened herself out and sat her hands clasped on the table in front of her before she spoke, "I request to speak with a member of the G-Men. I have highly classified Intel on Team Rocket including information on a future biochemical weapon. The criminal syndicate has been hunting me down day and night for this valuable information I have and so my time is short."

The officer's mouth hung agape, "Are you really serious lady? How much crap did you snort to come up with that story?"

"I did not snort any crap, I have been taking herbal supplements in order to keep myself awaken," she said in a steely, but matter-o-fact tone.

"Lady, go home," the officer shouted as he got up and threw open the door for her.

"You have to understand," she began to plead. "My life is for forfeit. Team Rocket is planning something that could make hundreds of lives forfeit. You have to listen to me; I am the only one who…"

"Just go home Lady, quit drinking," he grumbled, cutting her off and shoving her out of the door. "Jeez, women these days…"

"Let me back in," she shouted as she pounded on the door, "You need to hear what I have to say, do you not want to safeguard the lives of your children, your Pokémon, your friends?"

Instead of being heard out, the woman was escorted back out of the Police Station and into the dark of night where she no longer felt safe and secure. She turned and thought of walking back in and demanding someone listen to her but it wouldn't be of any use and she knew it. Instead, she trudged along the well-lit street, looking for a place that she could spend the night, with a preference on places she could barricade the doors of.

A cheap looking motel not far from the Police Station with a tacky looking Horsea water fountain in the front seemed to be her best bet. When the woman reached the small lobby of the motel, a young man with large bags under his eyes sat by the guestbook with his Gastly floating around him.

"Can I help you?" he asked in a bored tone.

"I need a room for the night. I would specifically like a room with a strong lock. However, the room cannot be located in a corner or somewhere that is easily corner-able," she explained as he nodded along.

"How about room 204, it's vacant tonight," he spoke without moving the placement of his eyes, "That'll be 200 poke a night."

The woman pulled her dark messenger bag up onto the counter and shuffled through it until she located a small purse. Inside it was lined with money, which the young man noticed almost immediately.

"Geez, you sure are loaded for someone who just wants to stay at a shady motel," he commented with his eyes glued to her purse. "Did you rob a bank on the way here?"

She quickly pulled the 200 out and closed her purse, "My job pays well."

"Wherever you work, I wanna work," he continued to comment as he leaned back and pulled the key to Room 204 from its hook and handed it over. "Try not to get robbed."

The woman quickly snatched the key rushed back outside, climbing a short set of stairs to the second floor. When she reached the door to her room she nervously shoved the key in, keeping her sight on her surroundings. Right as the lock clicked open; she kicked in the door and flicked on the lights. Inside was only a plain double bed, a dresser, a small nightstand with a lamp, and the entrance to a small bathroom.

After checking under the bed, inside of every drawer, and inside of the bathroom, she finally closed and locked the door to the motel room. The woman pushed the dresser over to the front of the room and up against the door to make sure it stayed closed. She then set her messenger bag gently on the plain white sheets of the bed then laid next to it, holding on to it as she slept for the first time in days.

The following morning she woke with a jolt. She had expected to be dead or imprisoned in some secret base far from civilization, but instead she was lying in bed holding onto her messenger bag. The woman shuffled off the side of the bed and did her rounds, checking every nook and cranny of the room before pulling the dresser back to its original spot. She picked up her messenger bag and opened the door to the room, racing out to the motel's lobby and quickly handing the key back to young man with the Gastly from the previous night without a second glance.

Now that Goldenrod City was glowing in the daylight, the woman was a bit less nervous than she had been at night, but she didn't feel completely safe yet. She trudged back down to the Police station to see if the officers there would finally listen to her this time. All she needed was one person to hear her out so that she could flee the region and end her current reign of terror. When she arrived at the Police Station it was much emptier than the previous day, save for a single officer and two children who appeared to be about ten or twelve.

One of the children was a dark haired boy who wore a cape backwards with a Chikorita following behind him. The other was a brown haired girl with a large hat that reminded the woman of a marshmallow and two pigtails that sprouted out of it. They appeared to be busy talking to the single officer who seemed vaguely familiar to the woman, although she couldn't put her finger on how.

"I'm sorry kid but there have been no reports of a missing Marill yet," she overheard the officer say to the brown haired child as she leaned on the counter, "I can notify the other officers to look out for one, but I just can't help you now."

The boy put a hand on the girl's shoulder as she slumped off the counter and over to one of the seats to wait, "It's ok, I'm sure Marill's alright, don't give up hope yet!"

"Can I help you miss?" the officer said from behind the counter, snapping the woman's attention from the two children.

"Oh," she walked over to the counter and began, "I request to meet with a member of the G-Men."

Unlike the officers of the previous night, this one immediately stood up and walked to a room not far from the lobby, "Right this way miss."

The woman followed the officer down to an interrogation room, which he closed and locked behind them. She sat in an uncomfortable chair across from the door while the officer stood, facing the door. The officer's silence caused the woman to tense up; she realized who she was thinking of before he even turned around to show his face.

"Petrel," she sneered, "I knew someone was following me last night…"

The purple haired Team Rocket Executive turned around to face the woman in his stolen police officer uniform, "Long time no see, Vile."

The woman, who Petrel had referred to as Vile, stood up from her chair and pulled a Pokéball from her belt, preparing to release whatever was inside of it at a moment's notice. "Get out of my way Petrel."

"Not this time Vile, not after all the other times you escaped. I'm sick of getting an earful from Archer every time I _get out of your way_," he slid his arm down to his side and grabbed a Pokéball of his own, staring Vile down. He tossed his Pokéball to the floor and out sprang a Weezing.

"Ugh, I am so done with playing cat and mouse!" Vile groaned as she tossed her own Pokéball and out sprang a Skuntank.

"Weezing, use Smog!" Petrel commanded, holding a hand over his nose and mouth immediately afterwards. A large purple cloud of gas shot out from Weezing's holes and filled the room.

"Frustration…on the door," Vile commanded through coughs. "Do it Skuntank!"

Vile's Skuntank raced to the door, his body glowing red from his anger, and began to beat on it with every inch of his body with great strength. Skuntank beat a large dent into the door with his head and continued to beat into it until the door fell off its hinges and into the hall, alarming the two children who were waiting in the lobby. Vile raced out the door, dodging Petrel, with her hand covering her nose and mouth as well.

As she reached the waiting room, she noticed an unconscious police officer under the counter that Petrel had copied the face from. She noticed that the police officer still had his pistol on him, so she slid over to the body and snatched the gun off of him. Skuntank raced out of the room after her and climbed over the counter as his trainer vaulted over it. When Vile finally made contact with the floor, she let in a large gulp of air as the two children jumped from their seats to where she was lying. Petrel sauntered out of the room with his Weezing and noticed the children who were standing over Vile.

"Miss, are you alright?" the dark haired boy asked. Vile didn't respond, but instead began to coughing violently by his feet.

The girl looked up to see Petrel as he walked into the room and noticed the large red _R_ on his shirt immediately, "Ethan, look, it's Team Rocket!"

"Yeah, I see that!" the boy noted. He pointed to the Weezing, "Chikorita, use Magic Leaf!" The small leaf Pokémon from beside the boy spun his head and shot numerous leaves out towards the Weezing.

The girl tossed out a Pokéball as well, which released a Totodile, "Totodile, use Bite on that Weezing!"

"Weezing, use Sludge on that Totodile!" Petrel commanded as Totodile raced towards his Weezing. Weezing let out a ball of sludge right on the Totodile just as it grabbed it with his jaws.

Vile pulled herself up and shot out an arm, pointing at the Weezing, "Flamethrower, Skuntank!" The skunk Pokémon shot out a stream of fire towards the Weezing as the Totodile jumped off and back towards its trainer. Vile pulled out the pistol she had taken off of the Police officer and aimed it over at Petrel.

"Whoa, not fair!" he called, then ordered his Weezing; "Smokescreen!"

The Weezing shot out a cloud of black smoke which made the two children begin to cough. Vile brought her goggles down over her eyes with her free hand and continued to aim. She shot two warning shots which barely grazed Petrel's arm.

"Damn you Vile!" Petrel groaned in pain through the smoke.

As the smoke began to clear, Petrel and his Weezing were nowhere to be seen. Vile tossed the gun back over the counter and laid back down on the floor. She called back her Skuntank to its Pokéball.

The two children stopped coughing and the dark haired boy asked again, "Miss, are you alright?"

"Someone will be here soon…" Vile murmured. She was starting to feel the effects of the poison and was feeling woozy; although she was sure someone would hear the shots and either awaken or race back.

"I wonder why a member of Team Rocket was here," the girl thought aloud before turning her attention to Vile as she lay out on the floor.

Just as Vile had expected, several officers raced through the door, shouting, "What's going on here!"

"Officer, someone from Team Rocket came in here and attacked this woman, then us!" the girl explained to the officer. Vile rolled over on her back to look up at one of the officers which she remembered from the following night as the officer who escorted her out of the station.

"Hey, she's the one who mentioned Team Rocket being after her," the officer exclaimed. "I guess she was telling the truth."

"I…told you," Vile murmured. "I need to speak with someone from the G-Men. I have critical Intel on Team Rocket and they have been hunting me down day and night for it."

"Yeah, sure, we'll get you someone. We just need to ask you and the two kids some questions about what just happened," the officer explained as the dark purple haired woman sat up.

The three were moved to an interrogation room with a long bench for them to sit at, that had not been harmed by the fighting. Vile sat away from the two children who were playing with their Pokémon, using medicine on them, and telling them how great of a job they did. She turned her head to see the dark haired boy hugging his Chikorita to him and telling it how he was so proud of it. The Chikorita in turn, rubbed its head on the boy's shoulder as a sign of affection. The sight heated something inside of Vile, so she quickly turned her head away once again.

"Hey miss, what's your name?" the dark haired boy asked her.

Vile simply stared at the boy for a moment before answering him in a steely tone, "I do not have one."

"You don't have one?" the boy was surprised, "But everyone has a name, mine is Ethan."

She turned her head from him, "_They_ called me Vile."

"Vile? That's an odd name," Ethan noted. He gestured to his friend who was sitting next to him, "This is my friend Lyra."

"Vile, why did Team Rocket attack you?" the boy pressed on. Vile stared at him once again. She didn't feel as though she should sit and spill any information to a child, especially with Petrel possibly around.

"I…how could I explain it to a child…" she said aloud more to herself than to the boy sitting next to her. "Adult problems."

"Oh…" Ethan gave up and turned back to his Chikorita and continued to pet it while Vile watched.

The sight boiled Vile's blood and she quickly rose to her feet, stepping over to a window by the bench and punching at the wall. She finally explained, "Team Rocket took something very special from me."

"Special," this time Lyra spoke up, "like a Pokémon?"

"Yes," the woman sighed, "my very first Pokémon, my Parasect."

Lyra's head dropped, "I know how you feel. I'm so lost without my Marill."

"You have no idea what it is like!" Vile roared. "You will never understand."

The officer from before opened the door of the room back up before Lyra could speak, explaining, "I'm going to be taking you two kids to another room to get your accounts of the incident. Miss, someone will be here soon to speak with you."

The two children began to stand up with their Pokémon to leave when Vile shouted from the window, "Wait!"

The group stopped and looked at her, "No, those two must stay here, they are my escorts."

"Whatever you say," the officer mumbled as he left the room again to retrieve his paperwork.

Ethan looked over at Vile who was staring back at the wall and asked, "Why did you say that?"

"Listen, children. I need help. You two, I may not know you both, but you helped me back there," Vile began to explain, "I need to get to Olivine City but the way things have been going right now, I fear for my life and no one will listen. If you two escorted me to Olivine City so I could ship off, I would pay you both well."

Ethan and Lyra looked at one another as if they were coming to a consensus with their eyes. Lyra then turned to the woman and asked, "How much would you be paying us?"

"10,000 poke each," Vile announced.

"Wow that's," Ethan looked to Lyra who nodded in agreement. "We accept your offer."

"Good," she sighed. "We start off as soon as I meet with someone from the G-Men."

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_**A/N: Ahem...so I was playing HGSS over again and...this. Also, I've been reading all of the LyraxProton stories on this entire site. However, I decided against making another LyraxProton (since there are already authors doing amazing jobs at it already). So I was thinking of an interesting plot where Proton plays something of a love interest and there you have it...**  
_


	2. Story of Brione

As Vile had requested, a representative of the G-Men had come to speak with her. The representative was a notable one, and none other than the very Champion of the region-Lance. While the two children were amazed by his glamorous entrance, coming down from the sky on his signature, large Dragonite, Vile was not. In fact, she hadn't even watched as he arrived, her attention was instead focused on her messenger bag which she was securely holding. When Lance opened the door to the room and entered, Vile had made no attempt to face him until he greeted her.

"Are you the one who requested…?" he began to ask before the sound of Vile's large messenger bag hitting the large table in the middle of the room stopped him. She shuffled through it, removing stacks of clipped paper here and there until she had a stack that was quite large sitting in front of her.

Vile looked up at Lance, staring intensely as if trying to pick out any behaviors that weren't befitting of him before finally speaking; "I offer your organization top secret files from Team Rocket pertaining to a biological weapon they have been creating."

Ethan and Lyra, who had been sitting on the long bench that ran along the wall of the room, were baffled by Vile's statement. They didn't think that Vile's Intel could be so serious. Lance, who stood on the opposite side of the table, seemed disgruntled by the idea as well.

"How do I know this information can be trusted, who are you?" Lance asked, reaching out for the pile, which Vile quickly tugged away.

She sighed, "I do not…have the time to get into details. But know this; the information pertains to an advanced recreation of the same deadly epidemic which inspired the creation of the Pokéathlon."

"That sounds like something Team Rocket would do," the Champion grumbled from the other side of the table.

"They intended to unleash the virus on entire cities and settlements in the Johto region then manufacture a cure to profit off of it," Vile explained, finally pushing the pile over to Lance, "I give you this information in the hopes that your organization will stop them."

Lance took the stack and began to skim over it, he noticed the name _Brione_ was written on every page in the right hand corner, prompting him to ask, "Is Brione the name of the person who created this virus?"

Vile turned away from Lance and back to the window where a long ray light pieced into the room, illuminating the mysterious woman like an actress on a stage as she spoke, "Yes, I stole all of that research from the lab of Brione. Team Rocket knows this and has kept on my heels ever since."

The Champion continued to read through the pile to find that the mysterious woman had managed to compile research logs, experiment results, and the procedures taken to create the virus in extreme detail. He looked up just as Vile had taken a small vial from her pocket and held it up to the sunlight, making it glow.

"And I have the last sample of it," she said, while holding the vial gingerly. She then turned and held it out to Lance who was still amazed by the amount of information the mysterious woman had managed to give him. He took the vial from her hands and pocketed it. He found the woman's generosity to be extremely suspicious and suspected that she was going to ask for something close to a fortune in return.

"What did you want for all of this?" he asked.

Vile turned back to the window, "I ask for nothing in return. Just knowing that Team Rocket and their terrible crimes will be stopped is all I ask of you. Now that I have passed on everything to you I feel like I have accomplished my own personal mission."

Maybe she was just a saint, sent to help in Team Rocket's destruction. The way the light from the window lit her made it seem so. Lance took the stack and carried it out, his farewell being a sincere _Thank you_ to the mysterious woman.

Lyra then hopped up from the bench with her Totodile, "Vile, I was wondering, could we maybe visit the Goldenrod Department Store before we set out to Olivine City? I need to find my Marill and that was the last place I saw her."

"Hmm?" Vile snapped from her thoughts and turned to the two children. "How long will this take? You do recall Team Rocket chasing me, right?"

"Only a few minutes," the brown haired girl promised her. "I know just where to look!"

The purple haired woman sighed, "Fine. I need to buy something to change into anyway."

"Thank you so much!" Lyra cheered.

The group, which seemed quite odd at first glance, walked through the now busy streets of Goldenrod City towards the giant Department Store situated in the heart of it. While Lyra and Ethan with their Pokémon in tow headed to look for Marill inside of the Department Store, Vile went to the boutique next to it to find something to wear. Lyra was sure that her Marill would be somewhere in the store, as they had stopped there the previous day to buy some new TMs. She and Ethan split up, taking the even and odd floors respectively so they would cover more ground in less time.

"Marill, Marill?" the brown haired girl called through the large crowds of trainers that filled the store. She shifted through the waves of people, looking out for the blue Pokémon. She continued to call out for her Pokémon when she felt her Pokégear ring. She looked down to see it was Ethan and quickly answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, guess who I found hanging out on the rooftop!" the young boy exclaimed on his side. Lyra could hear what she recognized as her Marill's cry from nearby as well.

She called into the Pokégear, "Marill, I missed you so much!" Lyra could hear her Marill's delighted squeaks on the other end.

"Lyra, Marill and I will meet you out front ok?" she heard Ethan say.

She nodded to herself then responded, "I'll see you there!"

The brown haired girl quickly raced to down several flights of stairs, anxious to see her Marill and after having worried over her for the last day. When she finally managed to wade through the crowds of the ground floor and exited out the front door, she saw Ethan waiting for her, holding her Marill.

"Marill!" she shouted as she raced to the blue mouse Pokémon. Marill let out her own joyful squeals in return and jumped into Lyra's arms. The two spun around, taking in the moment. She then noticed Ethan who simply stood there, waiting for her patiently. Lyra grabbed Ethan's arm and had him join their little circle.

Just as the three were having fun, a voice snapped them out of their play. They looked over to the side of the Department Store where the top of a head poked out at them and repeated, "Hey!"

"Vile, is that you?" Lyra called. The head disappeared behind the wall, making the two children decide to investigate. Before they even reached the alley, they could smell the smoke, and so could probably half of Goldenrod City. The two children saw a pile of clothes which served as the base for a bonfire. Between them and the fire, Vile and her Skuntank stood, holding their hands out towards it to warm up.

"Are we going soon?" Vile asked as she turned her head to the two children. It seemed that she had ditched all of her previous clothes except her hat and goggles. Instead opting for a sleeveless black shirt, loose grey shorts held on by a belt, and plain black hiking boots.

"You really don't like color do you?" Ethan noted, noticing her new set of clothes.

"I would think my choice in attire is suitable for sneaking around Johto in," Vile sighed. "We should be on our way soon; I have no desire to spend another night in this awful city."

Ethan looked onwards, he had really wished that he could have stopped and fought the Goldenrod City Gym. That was his original plan, at least before Lyra had lost her Marill and they ended up at the Police Station. However, he knew that if they took another side trip, they wouldn't make it out of the city before night which meant that they had the possibility of running into Team Rocket again, or worse. At least once they hit Olivine City, Ethan was sure that he and Lyra could just backtrack and get the badges they had missed.

He turned to Lyra who seemed to be staring intently at something. Ethan followed her line of sight to the burning clothes and noticed it as well, a large burning _R_. He wasn't sure what he would make of it, but he was sure Lyra would have some ideas. Perhaps he would ask her later…

"Hey, kids?" Vile whistled, waving her hands in front of the two to break their intense stares. "Are we ready to go?"

"Oh, yes, whoops!" Lyra rubbed the back of her neck, embarrassed. She noticed Vile pull out a Pokéball, ready to return her Skuntank and quickly cut in; "Wait a minute."

"Hmm?" the mysterious woman turned to her again with a blank look on her face. "What?"

"I was thinking…why don't you walk with your Skuntank like me and Ethan have been walking with our Pokémon!" the brown haired girl exclaimed dreamily with her hands clutched together.

"No," Vile turned back to her Skuntank with his Pokéball facing towards him, about to return it, when Lyra swiftly barged over and began to pet the skunk Pokémon.

"But…Vile, just look at him," she got down to Skuntank's level and gave off the saddest face possible. "He just wants to take a stroll with you."

Vile sighed and dropped her face into her hand, shrugging her shoulders and putting the Pokéball back into her bag, "Fine, you win. He can walk with us, but he better be on guard for Team Rocket and not wander off."

Lyra held up her arms in victory as the mysterious woman turned and began to walk off in the direction of Route 35 with her Skuntank following behind. He turned and glanced back over at Lyra, almost giving her a sort of _thanks_ with his eyes.

The group reached the middle of Route 35 by night, much to Vile's displeasure. But then again, Vile seemed to be displeased by everything, the two children noticed. She muttered about wanting to get rid of the time of day in its entirety.

"I suppose we should make camp," Vile sighed in agony for the lack of daylight in the middle of the road.

The two children looked at her and exclaimed in unison, "Camp?"

"Yes, camp. Have neither of you ever made one?" she looked over to the two children, annoyed as usual.

"I made one before when I was in the Junior PokéScouts" Ethan answered, "But we don't have any camp supplies."

Vile shuffled out towards the tree line of the route, "We don't need any supplies, just a campfire."

Ethan and Lyra followed her with Skuntank in tow through the forest until they reached a nice spacious break, large enough to serve as a proper camping spot but not too large as to look like a field. It appeared that someone had the same idea before them, as a nice circle in the middle of the area was filled with burned wood. The group split up and scrounged up some twigs and fallen branches, tossing them into the circle. After they had what they thought would be enough, Vile held out an arm to her Skuntank.

"Flamethrower!" she commanded. Her Skuntank shot out a long stream of flames which burned the gathered wood, quickly starting up a nice fire. Vile slumped down on the ground a nice space from it as did the two children.

"I've never gone camping before," Lyra noted, as the other two turned to her. She was a bit excited to finally be lying near a campfire at night. "I usually sleep at Pokémon Centers, but this seems really nice."

Vile's attention was rapt in the campfire, something about the ferocity and beauty of how the flames danced around relaxed her like nothing else did. Ethan and Lyra both took the time to let out their teams to relax by the fire as well. She watched as Totodile and Marill sat joyfully on either side of Lyra while Chikorita and Pidgey cuddled with Ethan. She looked over to her own bag and pulled out her own set of Pokéballs. Maybe she would too. Vile tapped the button on her five other Pokéballs, letting out her Gengar, Ariados, Houndoom, Honchkrow, and Crawdaunt. The two children seemed happy to see her finally let her team out for once.

"That's an interesting group you have there," Ethan noted from his side of the campfire.

"Hmm? I guess," Vile murmured, lying down on the ground. Unlike the other two, her team didn't cuddle with her by the fire, but settled down at different spots on her side. She turned to her only flying Pokémon, "Honchkrow, look out for anyone from Team Rocket, would you?" The flying Pokémon let out a caw and flew off into the night to scour the area for her.

"So…Vile," Ethan began to ask, "How did you steal all that research from that Brione-guy in the first place?"

"Hmm? Well…they stole my Pokémon so I did want anyone would, I tracked them down," she began to explain as she twirled some of the grass on her pointer finger. "And I found Brione's lab with my Parasect in it. But I was too late, they had already used my Parasect as a test subject for the virus."

"That's…that's awful!" Lyra gasped.

"Did you ever meet Brione face to face?" Ethan continued to pry, earning him looks from Lyra.

"Would you…would you kids want to hear the story of Brione?" Vile asked, sitting up on her knees, "I mean, from what I read in Brione's journals that I found in the lab, he kept really detailed entries."

"Sure," Ethan answered, sitting up. Lyra followed suit and the two prepared to listen in on Vile's campfire story.

"So," Vile held her arms up and swirled them around, "It began many years ago when Brione was a child of thirteen…Brione was an average trainer, but one day, his parents, who were both members of Team Rocket, decided to force induct him in the syndicate. They had him apprentice under the cruelest scientists the organization had, making him perform gruesome experiments on Pokémon at a young age."

Lyra held her hands over her face at the thought of what Team Rocket would have made a kid like them do to Pokémon. Ethan on the other hand, was completely invested in the story.

Vile continued; "But Brione did not want to join Team Rocket. When he told them he wished to become a trainer, they took all but one of his Pokémon and had him placed into solitary confinement for three years, forced to study forced evolution. The only way Brione could interact with the outside world was through this balcony he had in his lab, but he never used it to escape because it led down to this lake full of Gyarados. So instead, he would fish up Magikarp to study and keep in these tanks that lined his lab. The three years he spent in solitary confinement twisted him from the child he was into one of the cruelest members of the organization. "

"Magikarps?" Ethan cut in. "Why would he want to study them?"

Vile simply shrugged and continued; "After three years without human interaction, the door to his lab finally opened and a man, Archer, walked in with Brione's parents dragged in by several grunts. Archer told him that the two had been accused of treason and came to the boy to decide their fate. Brione's parents for the first time looked at him-and told him to tell the man how innocent they were. And do you know what he told Archer?"

"What'd he say, what'd he say!" Ethan almost shouted at the top of his lungs.

Vile shushed him and continued her story; "He looked Archer straight into the eyes and in the coldest, most serious tone her said…they have been selling Team Rocket's secrets to the Police."

Ethan cut in again, "But did they? Were his parents really doing that?"

"According to the journals, they never did," she explained, "But when your fate is left to someone who you never gave any parental love to and threw into a room for three years, one would imagine that they would not simply come to your aid."

"That's so awful," the brown haired girl whispered from her side of the campfire. "They practically turned him into a monster! But…what happened to his parents?"

Vile dragged a finger across her neck and the two children from either side of her held back shouts, Lyra, who had been frightened by the story since it had begun and Ethan who seemed to have some fondness for spooky campfire tales.

"There's more," Vile exclaimed before she continued; "So Archer, who had never met Brione before, saw all of the research that the boy had written during his three years of solitude. He was amazed by Brione's skill and immediately put him in charge of the organization's science division, with Brione's first task being to create the strongest Pokémon possible for each of the four executives. And that is where the Pokémon thievery comes in."

"Is that when they stole your Parasect?" Lyra asked.

"Not quite," Vile explained. "Brione was sent on missions with grunts to collect specific Pokémon to breed for the executives, but his cold and cruel behavior scared the grunts, leaving him to have to complete the tasks alone. It was then that Archer decided to pair Brione up with the cruelest executive of Team Rocket, Proton."

"Hey, I remember that name!" Ethan shouted. "He was the guy who cut all of the tails off the Slowpoke at the Slowpoke Well!"

"Hmm, so you met him have you?" the mysterious woman smirked, "He is quite scary, is he not?"

"So," the dark haired boy cut in again. "When did Team Rocket steal your Pokémon?"

Vile sighed and continued the story again; "Well, Brione and Proton proved to be one of the most potent teams of Team Rocket. Proton was cruel and primal while Brione was cold and unfeeling…"

"Were…were Brione and Proton lovers?" the brown haired girl cut in this time.

"Huh?" Vile was taken aback by the question. "No, I do not recall that they were."

Ethan rubbed his chin in thought, "Those journals must have been very detailed…because you sound like you knew them."

"Well," Vile shot defensively, "I snuck into their hideout and was caught. Running into an executive of Team Rocket is no laughing matter. Those people are downright vicious."

Before Ethan could interject once more, the cries of Vile's Honchkrow could be heard not too far from the camp, sending chills down the necks of the three occupants. Vile immediately rushed after her Honchkrow.

"Wait, Vile, what if it is a trap!" Ethan shouted as he and Lyra rushed after her. They couldn't keep up with Vile's speed however, and were left a good distance apart.

Vile followed the caw of her Honchkrow through the forest and to a small opening where a lone Grimer sat. She walked over to her Honchkrow, patting him on his head for having done his job but she was confused as to why he would lead her to a Grimer of all things. As she stepped towards the Grimer and looked into its dopey eyes, she began to realize why. It wasn't just any Grimer, it was her own.

"Grimer," she breathed, stepping closer to it. Like a creature stalking its prey, Vile felt someone else moving around in the shadows behind her. She swiftly turned upon hearing the sound of a cracking twig but didn't see anyone. Again she heard another crackle and continued to cautiously step towards it.

"Well if it isn't Vile," she swiftly turned around to the voice. "Long time, not see."

She froze in fear at the sight.

"Speak of the devil…" she exhaled. It was only the cruelest executive of Team Rocket standing past the Grimer, Proton. She watched his movements closely and began to back away in fear as he stepped forward.

"What's the matter Vile? You ran away so fast last time I didn't even get to say goodbye," Proton mocked her, "I thought I could make up for it now."

"Get away from me, I will never go with you," Vile emptily warned the teal haired executive as he continued to step forward.

He smirked, "And why would you think that I would automatically bring you to Archer? No, I have other plans."

Vile held her hand out around her right thigh, grasping for something. She lifted the right side of her shorts to where a pocket knife tied. With a few flicks of her fingers, she pulled it out and held it out towards Proton. She continued to back up until she was almost backed into a tree, "Get away from me Proton."

Proton continued to walk forward but stopped when he reached the Grimer, looking down at it, "So tell me Vile, how does it feel to see Grimer after all of this time?"

"That Grimer is mine no longer thanks to your corrupting influence," she sneered.

"Did you hear that Grimer? Vile doesn't want you anymore," he spoke to the Grimer. "You should at least give her your farewells."

Vile watched as Grimer dragged itself over to her, not at all afraid of the pocket knife that she held out at Proton. It scaled her leg and torso, dragging itself so that it sat upon her shoulder. She continued to watch Grimer and Proton at the same time, but felt too frozen to move.

"Grimer, lick!" Proton commanded. Before Vile could react, the Grimer's large tongue lathered her neck and face, leaving her paralyzed. She tumbled to her feet as Grimer dragged itself back over to Proton. He returned the sludge Pokémon and quickened his pace to Vile who was too paralyzed to move. He finally stood right in front of her and looked down, laughing a cruel laugh.

"How does it feel to be at my mercy Vile?" he laughed, watching her vain attempts to cry for help. "Don't shout too loud now, you might wake the entire forest."

Vile tried to make out words but her throat felt as though it were sealed. Proton lent down and grabbed her by her shirt and tossed her against the tree she had happened to back up into. She closed her eyes, thinking of some way to escape Proton as he closed in on her.

"You're going to have a blast at the Rockets HQ with Ariana and Archer later," he laughed, grabbing onto the loose strands of her dark purple hair.

"Witch…monster….." she weakly managed.

He continued to pull her by her hair, "But don't you worry though, because I have the first shot at you."

Proton quickly tugged on her hair, pulling her forward then letting go so that she fell down onto the ground again. Like a beacon out of the darkness, Vile heard the scampering of several feet coming her way. Even though she had been paralyzed, knowing that the children would be arriving soon gave her hope that she wouldn't be dragged away by that demon.

"Oh look, it's the two kids from Slowpoke Well," Proton sneered. He turned back down to Vile, "Are those the two you hired to be your bodyguards?"

"How….did you….find…that out?" she weakly asked.

"I have eyes and ears everywhere Vile," he laughed. "You aren't safe anywhere!"

"Hey, that's the guy from the Slowpoke Well!" Ethan shouted as he and Lyra reached the scene. Proton grabbed the stiff Vile again and tossed her to their feet. Lyra immediately kneeled down to check on Vile's condition while Ethan glared out at Proton, preparing to attack.

"It's such a surprise to see the two brats from the Slowpoke Well again," Proton shot. "You kids can have her, I have other plans."

He released his Goldbat and grabbed onto its feet, "You might want to hurry to a hospital though, she's looking pretty pale."

"Hey! Get back here!" Ethan shouted, running towards Proton as he began to fly off. He looked down at his Chikorita, "Use Magical Leaf!" Chikorita flung out several leaves from its head, but Proton's Goldbat was able to easily dodge them as he gained more air and eventually disappeared in the sky.

Lyra called to Ethan who continued to glare at the sky with his fists out, "I think we should listen to what he says, Vile's out cold."

* * *

**A/N: So...the story hasn't gotten any reviews yet... If anyone reads this, I'd like to know what you think of it so far. I don't intend to hold the story hostage until I get reviews or something similar, I just kinda wish I had some input...**


	3. Evening Heist

Like a Pokémon trainer whose entire party had been whipped out, Ethan and Lyra rushed back to Goldenrod City with Vile's Honchkrow carrying his fainted trainer on his back. They had tried to get to the city's hospital as fast as they could but they had to deal with rounding up all of Vile's Pokémon and then putting out their campfire. Honchkrow hadn't been the easiest to ask for assistance from either. It almost seemed like Honchkrow was indifferent towards his trainer, which Ethan noticed disgruntled Lyra quite a bit. But then again, Ethan noted that Lyra seemed keener on noticing these things, just like the _R_ on the clothes that Vile had been burning earlier that day. While he wasn't sure what to make of everything yet, Lyra was already trying to solve the puzzle in her head.

When the duo arrived at the city's hospital with Vile laying across her Honchkrow, the nurses there seemed to have already prepared for her arrival. It was strange to say the least, but they were able to easily rush her into a room, alone and begin to check her condition. Lyra had been the one to offer that Proton's suggestion had been more of a command; he wanted them to bring her to the hospital for who knows why. Ethan wasn't sure though, maybe the service there was just _that_ good.

The doctors there were quick, to say the least. They were easily able to figure out that she had been paralyzed by a Pokémon. They also told the two children that she would be fine, the paralysis would go away in a few hours and their client would be up soon. There, however, was the possibility that she would need some assistance with physical activities however, the doctor also noted, but it would only last a day.

While Ethan and Lyra sat around in the lobby with their Pokémon, Lyra continued to think over the entirety of the events that had transpired in the last day. Ethan however, preferred nuzzling his Chikorita.

"I'm worried though Ethan," Lyra began. "What if something happened to her? Could we at least go and check on her?"

From the plush seat next to Lyra, Ethan responded nonchalantly, "Vile's probably fine, besides I doubt the doctors will let us just traverse the halls all night."

Lyra slumped back in her plush chair, "It sure would beat sitting around here all night though."

Ethan had to admit, it would get pretty boring, pretty fast, and Lyra had a point, "Ok, maybe just one visit wouldn't hurt…"

The two trainers quickly got up from their plush seats in the waiting room and strolled down the nice clean floors of the hospital. Vile's room was on the fourth floor, so they would just need to take the elevator that was a few doors into the hospital's first floor. They would just need to sneak past the nurse at the visitor counter. Luckily for them, the blond haired woman was too busy looking her nails over every other minute.

Ethan picked up his Chikorita and silently walked past the counter with Lyra and into the first floor. They dodged several trolleys and finally reached the elevator door. Ethan pressed the call button on the elevator and the two stood and waited for it to stop down to pick them up.

"What was the room number again?" Lyra whispered to her dark haired friend as they continued to wait.

"I'm pretty sure the doctor said 417," Ethan whispered back. Just then, the elevator door opened and the two walked in. Ethan then hit the button to the fourth floor and the doors shut again, going up.

"Maybe we can bunk in Vile's room for the night," he joked as the elevator continued up. "I bet the beds here are better than the ones at the Pokémon Center." Lyra shot him a short glare. He rubbed the back of his head again, "What, it was just a joke…"

The elevator then stopped and the door opened again. The two stepped out and into a long hall that led out the same distance both ways. They noticed a door that had a sign next to it that read 415 near the door to the right so they continued down that side of the hall. Eventually they reached room 417 and opened the door. The room itself was actually quite small with only a single bed surrounded by thin teal curtains. Across the room was a window with a small teal couch and wooden table by it. Ethan plopped down on the couch with his Chikorita while Lyra moved through the curtains to Vile who slept in the bed soundly.

"Looks like Vile's fine," Ethan spoke from his spot on the couch, petting his Chikorita. "Happy now?"

Lyra moved back from the bed and fixed the curtain, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just wanted to make sure that she was alright." She sat down on the couch next to Ethan, "Considering all the stuff that's happened, it's not a bad idea to at least be a bit concerned."

Ethan threw an arm around his friend, "When she has the two coolest Pokémon trainers from New Bark Town as escorts, there's nothing to be worried about."

"I guess," the brown haired girl got back up, turning to Ethan again. "Hey, do you wanna head over to the Pokémon Center to retire?"

"Yeah," he yawned. "I'm tired out."

The two left Vile's door, closing it lightly as to not wake Vile. As they continued to walk back to the elevator, Ethan noticed two suspiciously darkly dressed men. He quickly grabbed Lyra and hid behind a trolley to listen in on what they were saying.

"What's going on Ethan?" Lyra asked after he practically dragged her behind a trolley. He put a finger over his lips and poked his head out from behind the trolley to look. The two men hadn't turned their way so Ethan assumed that they hadn't heard them.

He heard the man on the left say; "But why do we have to….she's the mean one!"

The second one responded by saying; "If we don't….Proton will be pissed at us…don't want to deal with him when he's mad."

Ethan looked back at Lyra at the mention of the green haired Rocket executive's name. He guessed that she was right for worrying now; these men had to be Team Rocket grunts. He quickly turned back when he heard the second grunt speak again.

"Proton said…she's weak and vulnerable…chance to nab her. We took care of the doctor already…sneak in…give her the anaesthetic Proton gave us…knock her out and drag her off," he explained to his partner, giving him a pat on the back. Ethan gathered, Lyra was right again, they were planning a kidnapping.

The first spoke again; "I'm afraid….but I guess..."

Ethan slipped out from behind the trolley and snuck to a trolley closer to the two grunts. Lyra attempted to stop him, but he went ahead anyway and thankfully reached the second trolley without being caught.

"Why? Everything with the plan has gone off without a hitch. It's all like Proton said," the second grunt spoke, gesticulating the phases as he spoke. "The kids would drop her off at the hospital and all we'd have to do is bring her to the alley by the Department store where Proton's waiting."

"But what if we're caught," the first grunt timidly asked.

"Quit worrying, our disguises are perfect, no one will suspect us," the second grunt put an arm on his timid partner's shoulder, "Just think of the pay raise Proton promised us if we get the job done! It sure has lit a fire under my boots."

"I mean, what if we get by Ariana, she's really scary. She'll tell Archer and who knows what will happen to us!" the first grunt explained to his partner.

The second grunt continued to reassure his partner by telling him; "Listen, Ariana isn't going to find out because Proton said he'd have her to Archer by morning!"

Ethan glanced back over to his partner, Lyra who was still listening in over behind the first trolley. He slowly crept over to her while the two grunts began to walk in the opposite direction.

"You heard all that, right?" he asked when he reached the trolley. Lyra simply nodded and he continued, "Then you know what we have to do."

"But how are we supposed to sneak her out of here without getting caught for sneaking in here in the first place?" she whispered back to him.

Ethan looked around for ideas, and then he noticed the trolleys again. He grabbed Lyra's arm while he whispered, "I'll explain my idea back in Vile's room."

The two children quietly snuck back to room 417 where they closed and locked the door behind them. Ethan pulled the curtains around Vile's bed away as Lyra walked over to him asking, "Your idea?"

"Ok, so remember that trolley we saw in the hallway?" he asked her.

"The one we hid behind, yeah."

"I'm going to go back out there into the hallway and find one to use. While I'm gone, I need you to keep the door locked and if anyone attempts to come in, you have to hide Vile somehow," he explained without really answering her question. Lyra looked around the room, where could she hide a body? Whatever Ethan was planning though, she hoped it would work. And she also hoped that he wouldn't run into those Rockets again outside of the room and get injured or worse.

"Are you sure you'll be fine out there?" she asked Ethan as he reached for the doorknob.

He looked back and gave her one of his famous grins, "Trust me, I've got this, alright!"

Lyra quickly locked the door behind him, turning the knob a few times to make sure it wouldn't open accidentally. She then turned back to Vile who had managed to remain unconscious for the remainder of the events since Proton had thrown her to their feet. The brown haired girl removed the mysterious woman's blanket and began to pull her from her bed. However, while she was doing this, Lyra noticed something written on Vile's palms. When she looked closer at it, she realized it was a code. In fact, each palm had a different version of a code using the numbers from zero to nine and each of the twenty six letters in the alphabet. Lyra wasn't sure what to make of the code, perhaps she would inquire about them later.

Meanwhile, Ethan had raced back down the hallway where the two had seen the Rocket Grunts, looking for a maintenance closet. As he looked around, he noticed that the two Rocket Grunts had seemingly disappeared, which in a way, worried him. He finally reached a door with the maintenance closet sign on it and attempted to open it, however, it was locked. He tried the knob again, but quicker, to no avail. Ethan shoved his hands in his pockets looking for a card to use. All he found was his trainer card and figured it would do, if nothing else.

"C'mon…" he breathed as he concentrated on wedging his trainer card in without ruining it. He grabbed the knob as he wedged the card under the latch to the other side and tried again, clicking the door open. The closet was small and dark, when Ethan flicked on the lights; he found several cleaning trolleys stuffed inside along with a rack holding several sets of cleaned uniforms and safety equipment. He grabbed two sets of uniforms along with gloves and tossed them over his shoulder for the time being. He then looked into the trash bins of the three cleaning trolleys. He found one with an empty bin and pulled it from the room, setting his hat and bag on the trolley's bottom rack.

The trolley was otherwise quite bare, so he shuffled back into the closet and pulled out various cleaning items along with a bucket and mop and set them on the trolley to make it look a bit more convincing. He then put on one of the two uniforms which easily slid over his clothes as it was a large blue jumpsuit with a patch marked with the hospital's logo on it and a set of yellow gloves. Ethan quickly returned the closet to its original state and nonchalantly rolled the trolley back to room 417, keeping an eye out for Rocket and whistling as he went.

Back in Vile's room, Lyra had finally managed to pull the mysterious woman from her bed and sat her on the couch. How she had managed to sleep while Lyra mangled her for the last five minutes, the brown haired girl would never understand…well, until she accidentally dropped the woman's bag. While Lyra scrabbled to quickly clean the mess up, she noticed a few things of interest that had poured out. The first of which was a blue hardcover book with only XV_II_ written on the front.

"What is this?" Lyra thought aloud as she flipped open the cover. Her face was covered in shock when she finally reached the first page. "This is…a journal."

As Lyra began to flip through, she noticed every page was filled with what appeared to be gibberish, until she remembered the code she had seen on Vile's hand earlier. She took the book over to the teal couch where Vile was laying and attempted to decode the first page using the code written on her hand. She was able to decode a good number of lines worth of writing;

_This is journal seventeen. I am not sure of the date, as usual. That impetuous fool Archer demanded I breed for the syndicate more Poison Pokémon. Perhaps he has not considered it before, but having entire teams of only Poison Pokémon is, to put it bluntly-stupid. Even a child could defeat a team consisting of six Zubats without batting an eye. I proposed that we instead breed Dark or Dragon Pokémon. Although, I admit, I should not have said we as the honor of producing whichever Pokémon that monster barks falls to me. Of course, Archer insists that his incompetent teams of Zubats are perfectly capable. The things I would accomplish if I ran Team Rocket…_

Lyra was interrupted from her decoding by a serious of knocks on the door. She quickly closed the book and returned to shoving all of Vile's things back into her bag. The knocks became louder and much more furious as a call erupted from the other side of the door.

"It's the doctor, can you open the door?"

"Oh no…" Lyra breathed, quickly grabbing the bag and stuffing it under the couch. She looked back up at Vile who was still asleep and looked for a place to hide her. The room didn't have a closet and she couldn't set her on the roof outside of the window out of fear that Vile would roll off of it. So Lyra decided on the last place she was sure anyone would look for Vile, which was under the couch.

"Just a minute!" Lyra called out as she dragged Vile to the floor and stuffed her under the couch. She managed to fit Vile but had to resort to stuffing her into the oddest pose. Lyra stepped over to the door and unlocked it, then rushed back to Vile's bed and slid in her place, pulling the blanket up to the top of her nose.

Before Lyra could even shout _come in_, two oddly dressed doctors stumbled into the room and walked over to the bed where she was hiding. She noticed that one of them held a hypodermic needle by his side and assumed that these were the Rockets that she and Ethan had overheard. Quickly glancing back at the couch, she prayed that Vile didn't wake up while they were still there. The two Rockets disguised in doctor's scrubs, while still wearing their caps, looked Lyra over before turning to one another.

The grunt standing on the right, holding a clipboard asked his partner, "Are you sure we have the right room? The _patient_ should have dark purple hair shouldn't she?"

The grunt on the left with the hypodermic needle by his side answered in a whisper that Lyra was able to catch, "Yeah, I would never forget what that vile bitch looks like…plus he said that the room number would correspond with the code."

"I um…" Lyra broke in. The two grunts turned to her as she continued, "I was told I wouldn't be receiving any visits tonight."

The two turned back to one another and the grunt with the hypodermic needle whispered back to his partner, "And she doesn't speak with contractions either."

The first grunt with the clipboard turned back to Lyra and asked her, "You don't have any other patients roomed with you, do you?"

She shook her head, "Nope, just me."

The two grunts looked at one another again, and then the first whispered to the second, "What do we do? Should we tell Proton?"

The second grunt quickly nodded and turned back to Lyra, "Sorry for bothering you, we'll be going."

The two grunts then quickly walked out, closing the door behind them. Lyra breathed a sigh of relief and quickly got back up and locked the door. As the two walked away, Ethan was nearing the room with the cleaning trolley. When he noticed the two, he quickly stopped pushing the trolley and hid behind it and peeked out over to the two grunts standing by the door.

"Proton would never make such a big mistake to throw us off, would he?" the grunt with the hypodermic needle asked his partner.

"Maybe we should call him back?" the grunt with the clipboard suggested, "I have the Pokégear number he gave us to contact him on my Pokégear."

Ethan watched as the grunt pulled out a Pokégear and began punching in a number. He and the other grunt then rounded a corner towards the stairwell and walked away. Ethan decided to take the opportunity to rush back to the room while they were occupied.

"Lyra, Lyra it's me!" Ethan called as he knocked on the door. Almost instantly he heard the door click open and saw Lyra standing opposite of him. He pulled the cleaning trolley into the room as Lyra closed and locked the door behind him.

"Are you ok Lyra? What happened? I saw those Rocket grunts in scrubs talking about some mistake and calling Proton," he quickly asked.

"Don't worry," she assured him. "They came in while you were gone looking for Vile and only found me."

"So…where's Vile?" Ethan asked, scratching his head. Lyra pointed down to the couch. He turned his head and noticed several fingers sticking out from under the couch. "How did you manage to fit her?"

"I'm not quite sure myself," Lyra admitted, pulling Vile back out from the under couch with her bag and sat her on top of it. She turned to her friend and asked, "So what's your plan?"

Ethan held out the other uniform to Lyra, "We are going to pretend we're the hospital's cleaning crew and sneak out the back door."

"And how are we going to sneak Vile out?" she asked. Ethan opened up the top of the large trash bin, which Lyra's attention was immediately turned to. "You aren't serious…?"

"Don't worry, the bin's clean!"

Ethan and Lyra were somehow able to fit Vile into the empty trash bin without breaking it or the cart. Lyra then quickly slipped on her uniform and tossed her hair up into a ponytail. The two tossed Vile and Lyra's bags onto the last rack of the trolley along with their respective hats. The group managed to slip out of the room in their disguises right as the two grunts returned, still on the Pokégear with who they assumed was Proton. When the grunts realized the little girl from before was gone, the two children would hopefully be halfway gone. Or at least, that was what they planned. However, before they reached the elevator with their cart, a nurse rushed up to them.

"I've been calling for someone from maintenance for the last hour, you two took long enough!" the nurse complained. She grabbed the two children and led them over to a room opposite the elevator, much to their displeasure. Ethan looked over to Lyra for an idea as of what to do only to receive a shrug in reply. The nurse led the two to a room with a larger room with a large mess of what they only hoped was vegetable stew, on the floor. Before they could really ask for details, the nurse rushed away.

"Well...we could take turns mopping?" Lyra offered as she grabbed the mop and empty bucket from the trolley. Ethan flipped open the lid on the bin so Vile, who was still asleep, could breath, and began filling the empty bucket with water.

"If you want, you can watch out for the Rockets at the door while I mop, trust me, I'm a professional at this," he assured her.

"Um, sure," she agreed as she pushed the trolley over by the door and stood on its side, looking out into the hall. Lyra noticed the nurse walking back down the hall and began aimlessly moving around cleaning products on the cart. However, she soon noticed the two Rocket grunts following the nurse, still on their Pokégear.

"Ethan, it's those Rocket grunts again," she whispered over to her friend who was expertly mopping the floor.

His concentration seemed to be solely on the floor as he answered Lyra simply saying, "Just keep an eye on them, I'll be done soon."

Lyra continued to move around cleaning products as she watched the group walking down the hall near them out of the corners of her eyes. The nurse stopped by the door to the room that was across from them, so she could easily make out what they were saying.

"The only other purple haired patient is in here," the nurse explained.

"Ok, thank you," the grunt holding the Pokégear quickly said as the nurse walked away. They opened the room's door and walked in, closing it behind them. Lyra let out another sigh of relief, as they had not noticed her from earlier, and felt the trash bin begin to fidget.

It seemed that Vile had finally managed to awaken, and with a scream. Lyra quickly rushed to the bin and held out a hand to Vile.

The dark purple haired woman looked up at Lyra and asked, "What is going on here?"

"Ethan and I are busting you out of here," the brown haired girl began to explain while Vile gave her a confused look. "Listen, I'll explain more later, just be quiet for now, ok?"

"Is everything alright in here, I heard a scream?" Lyra looked up from the trash bin to see the nurse, who had returned and now stood in the doorway.

Lyra gave a nervous laugh and lied, "Oh, that was just me. I thought I saw a Ratticate but it was just a dust bunny. Sorry to make you worry!"

A laugh erupted from the nurse as well, "Oh don't feel bad, I had the same problem when I started here a while back. We used to have a pretty bad Ratticate problem!"

"Hahaha, that sounds awful," she continued to play along, giving a terribly fake laugh as the nurse walked away. She then sighed for the third time that evening.

"Ratticate?" Vile questioned from the trash bin.

The door to the room across from them slammed, startling the two. Lyra quickly peeked out to see the two grunts, still on their Pokégear, walk over to the wall by the door and slid down it. Lyra turned back to Vile and set a finger over her lips to signal her to stay quiet while they listened in.

"What do you mean she wasn't there!" the two heard from the other side of the wall. Vile recognized the voice and began to panic, but Lyra simply hushed her again.

"We checked the room you told us and there was a little girl the first time and then it was empty. And the only other patient with purple hair was a fat guy with a large beard that didn't look like her either," one of the grunts spoke into the Pokégear.

The two hear Proton mumble to himself then shout, seemingly loud enough for the entire hospital to hear, "Urgh! To think she managed to escape again! What an escape artist that vile woman is! But I will find her soon and I will drag her back and punish her **myself**!"

Lyra turned back to Vile who was now cringing.

"Um...do we still get our bonus pay?" one of the grunts asked into the Pokégear.

"Of course not! You two idiots couldn't handle a simple job, you don't deserve anything!" Proton shouted from the Pokégear. The two Rocket grunts groaned and walked away, over to the elevator. Ethan had finally finished the floor as the two grunts left and was returning the bucket and mop to its places on the trolley.

He turned to Lyra, who was sighing once again, "Ready to leave?"

"I'm so ready."

The two children wheeled the trolley the long way, down the stairwell and down to the first floor. Luckily, there was a backdoor right by the bottom of the stairwell, so they didn't have to walk much further. When they finally were outside, no one was around, so the two children removed their disguises and grabbed their hats and bags from the trolley. They then lifted Vile from the trash bin and set her on the ground beside them. The two then collapsed by Vile, who was still dazed and confused.

"Why are we in Goldenrod City?" she asked, looking up at the large skyscrapers from her place on the ground.

"It's a long story," Ethan sighed from Vile's side. "We'll explain it all to you once we reach the Pokémon Center."

* * *

**A/N: It feels so good to have this done and up...**


End file.
